Authors (including presenting author) :
Choi HY
Affiliation :
Occupational therapy, TWGHs Wong Tai Sin Hospital
Introduction :
In Hong Kong, the average length of stay of hospitals noted as 7.2 days according to the hospital authority statistic report form 2017- 2018. The improvement of stroke recovery occurred at the greatest degree in the first 90 days post-stroke. This suggests that the majority of the stroke survivors were commonly found living with hemiparesis on discharge. However, the stroke survivors have limited access to ongoing training due to lacking resources in the community and long waiting time to community rehabilitation programs. Yet, early and intensive rehabilitation is always crucial to stroke survivors and telerehabilitation will be the potential alternative for stroke survivors to improve upper extremity function.
Objectives :
The main objective of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness of telerehabilitation on improving the upper extremity for stroke survivors.
Methodology :
Full text articles were searched from electronic databases including PubMed and EMBASE via the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. This review only included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the effectiveness of telerehabilitation on improving upper extremity function for stroke survivors.
Result & Outcome :
Five articles were included in this systematic review. Three studies investigated the effectiveness of telerehabilitation on improving upper extremity function versus conventional training. A study investigated the effectiveness of telerehabilitation with conventional training versus conventional training on improving upper extremity function. A study investigated the effectiveness with or without tracking on improving upper extremity function. All studies supported the effectiveness of telerehabilitation improving the upper extremity function for stroke survivors. The telerehabilitation intervention demonstrated similar clinical outcomes as conventional training in several studies. In a long run, there is a need for more high-quality RCTs to be done to evaluate the methods in providing feedback and implementation of telerehabilitation to improve the effectiveness of distance rehabilitation for stroke survivors. Apart from that, it is suggested that more RCTs to evaluate the cost-effectiveness along with technology devices and human resources to develop a dedicated technology system for telerehabilitation in Hong Kong. To conclude, telerehabilitation for stroke survivors to improve the upper extremity function can be a potential ongoing treatment for patients discharged from hospitals.
